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'Day of the Tentacle' fans create free, unofficial sequel
The classic point-and-click adventure game Day of the Tentacle was released a hair over 25 years ago, so fans have been waiting a long time for a follow-up. With little sign of Double Fine releasing another entry in the series, some fans have taken the initiative to create their own, unofficial sequel. It's called Return of the Tentacle and you can download it right now for Windows, Mac and Linux. Best of all, the game is available for the low, low price of zero dollars.
‘Super Mario 64’ is an online multiplayer game thanks to hero modders
Super Mario 64 turned 21 years old back in June, but the classic title lives on in the hearts and minds of players. A new fan project has taken that collective nostalgia to another level with a downloadable version of the game allowing up to 24 friends to play through the (formerly) single-player adventure. But given Nintendo's extremely low tolerance for unauthorized versions of its games, play it now before the company DMCA's it off the internet.
Enjoy the 1998 'Metal Gear Solid' in Unreal Engine 4
Shadow Moses is a labor of love from some serious Metal Gear Solid fans who want to play Konami's pivotal 1998 game in updated, Unreal Engine 4 graphics. So far, it's looking so good. The creators don't have permission from Konami to actually release the remake, though they're aware that conversation will have to take place, eventually. "Konami owns the MGS copyright and therefore sooner or later we will need their full permission," creator Airam Hernandez writes on YouTube and Facebook. "We have therefore chosen to openly share this project from the beginning so that we can deal with any issues that may arise as they come. We believe this is better than putting years of work into a project only to get it shut down. Please, respect this decision."
Mini DayZ is what DayZ would have been like in 1994
You can now play DayZ for free using a web browser ... kind of. Mini DayZ, a fan-made tribute to Bohemia Interactive's zombie apocalypse survival game, has been posted to the publisher's website and is now free to play via Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Opera. It's missing a few features - namely 3D graphics and multiplayer - but if you ever wondered to yourself, 'What if we gave DayZ a top-down camera and retro graphics," now is your chance to find out. Mini DayZ is the work of CannedBits, a Russian player of Dean "Rocket" Hall's DayZ (which, in case you need a history primer, is a standalone game that began life as a mod for Arma 2 and arguably boosted the multiplayer survival genre into prominence). In posting the news about the game's availability via Bohemia to Reddit, CannedBits even caught the attention of Hall himself: "I have to say, I absolutely love Mini DayZ," Hall wrote. "I think it's awesome, amazing, addictive, and brings something really new to the experience. I'm so glad you've been able to make it even better! Ignore the haters, the vast majority of people think it's fantastic and I am one of those people." [Image: Bohemia Interactive/CannedBits]
Student film 'Brothers Rapture' revisits BioShock's underwater city
The Brothers Rapture is an upcoming short film put together by a group of Vancouver film students with a bit of Indiegogo funding, and this teaser should give you an idea of what it has in store. Plasmids, audio diaries, and the philosophical battle between art and commerce, oh my!
Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden sequel heading to Kickstarter
We get a new Call of Duty game every year, but how often do we get a continuation of 1994's Barkley Shut Up and Jam!? Indie dev Tales of Game's Studios is trying to up that frequency with a soon-to-be-announced Kickstarter for (deep breath) The Magical Realms of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 – Revenge of Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie – Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa.Tales of Game's is responsible for Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, the 2008 fanmade RPG parody of the original SNES basketball game. The studio says it will be aiming to secure funding for the story of "X114JAM9, an amnesiac baller with no recollection of his past and no concept of his incredible b-ball destiny." Players will explore a non-linear world and find out if they "have the courage, vigor and sagacity to slam with the best." Probably?The Kickstarter is set to go live later this month, and Tales of Game's promises more information on its Twitter account soon. We hope Charles Barkley is involved in this silliness, if only so we can see someone explaining the whole thing to him.
Fanmade mod combines Sins of a Solar Empire chocolate with Mass Effect peanut butter
Sins of a Solar Empire is an award-winning RTS space battle game, and Mass Effect is an epic action RPG universe with enough lore to fill a library. What happens when you smash the two together in the particle accelerator chamber that is a fan-created mod? You get Mass Effect: Dawn of the Reapers, a full conversion for Sins that lets you command ships like the Normandy against various Mass Effect-inspired units, including those of the Geth, Volus, and Cerberus' ships as well.There's lots more planned for the mod, including even more races and ships designed straight from Bioware's epic series. Unfortunately, the mod itself isn't available to the public just yet, and the release of Mass Effect 3 pushed it back for some more lore and spec tweaks. Still, when it's available it will work with both Sins' Diplomacy expansion and the standalone Rebellion version as well.
Fallout: Nuka Break wants to film season two
After Wayside Creations launched its Fallout fan film in January 2011, it filmed one (excellent) season of Fallout: Nuka Break in a webseries with $30,000 of funding. Now Wayside wants to start filming the second season, bigger, badder and better than the first, with $60,000 in funding. It doesn't have that money, but it's betting some of its fans do.Fallout: Nuka Break has a Kickstarter running to raise the full $60,000 for its second season. Watch the video above for a brief rundown of what Nuka Break does and who will be involved, including Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth actor Doug Jones, who has a scotch-based cameo in the Kickstarter video itself. Nuka Break has 59 days left to raise its money, but if you're still not convinced check out Wayside's previous episodes, beginning right here.
'Halo: The Fallen' fan film is gorgeous, gory, grunty
Here's a stark look into the wartorn lives of a group of marines and ODSTs during the events of the first Halo title, as lovingly recreated by a group of fans. The prologue reel for Halo: The Fallen, viewable above, has a wizened veteran relive the first battle with the Covenant on Reach, complete with professional-quality CGI Elites, Grunts, plasma rifles and bullets. The Halo: The Fallen prologue film is not-for-profit and was made with $200 to showcase the creators' talents, the YouTube description reads. If we could pay people in our own humble respect, these guys would be millionaires. Update: This post originally credited the Halo: Helljumper folks as having created the above piece of video, which is inaccurate. It also referred to "Elites" as "Arbiters," which, frankly, we find inexcusable. Those responsible in the Department of Halo Alien Class References have been summarily sacked.
Call of Duty: Police Warfare is an outstanding, fan-made concept
An outstanding concept trailer for a downloadable game, dubbed Call of Duty: Police Warfare, has grabbed our attention and wrestled it to the ground -- no pepper spray needed. The only problem? It's just a fan-made concept trailer. Hey, Activision! Let's get it done!
Fan remake of Command & Conquer: Renegade nearing completion
Remember Command & Conquer: Renegade, the first-person shooter set in the C&C universe that came out back in 2002? One group of fans apparently remembers it so fondly that they're remaking the title as a game called Renegade X, going so far as to not only recreate settings and levels from the title in a more modern graphics engine, but also create new content for the mix of real-time strategy and FPS action gameplay. The fanmade game actually looks like it's coming along well, and there's a version available for download right now (though it requires an updated copy of Unreal Tournament 3 to play). The full final game won't be out until "when its [sic] done" according to the video above, but hopefully that will be right on schedule. We wouldn't want these guys to have to remake the infamous "Havoc takes on Westwood" video, too, for releasing as late as the original team. [Thanks, Daniel]
Fanmade 'Golden Axe Myth' available to download, for now
A fan-created Golden Axe game called "Golden Axe Myth" is now available for download on PC. In development since 2007, Myth has been designed as prequel to the arcade/Genesis game, and features all-new graphics, music and levels, and even a downloadable artbook and soundtrack. And it all looks great! So why is it that we're feeling so sad on this otherwise happy occasion? It's basically a total bummer to be reminded of Sega's takedown of Streets of Rage Remake just two weeks ago. Presuming that Myth will fall to the same fate, we're already feeling sad about the (future) ending of this fan creation. But that's all the more reason for you to download Golden Axe Myth while you can. And to future fan-game developers: Just make a couple of changes! Call it "Platinum Halberd" and give the dwarf blue hair or something. It doesn't have to end in tragedy!
Watch these impressive Silent Hill and Dragon Age fan film trailers
It might seem strange to pair Silent Hill and Dragon Age fan film trailers in one post, but they just happen to share the same director, Leo Kei Angelos. Both projects are planned for release as complete short films later this year, and they already look impressive. In fact, if the super, super creepy trailer is any indication, the Silent Hill inspired film, The Confined, just might turn out better than its full-length cinematic counterpart. Check out both trailers after the break.
Super Mario reimagined as a first-person game, conquers the castle of our hearts (video)
You've seen Super Mario evolve from a modest 2D sprite into a 3D world-exploring superhero mechanic, but have you ever seen life through his eyes? Here's your opportunity, as a fanmade animation treats us to a first-person view of the intrepid Italian's adventures through the familiar World 1-1. There are kill streaks, achievements like "headbanger" and "pole dancer," and some extremely realistic sound effects to set the mood. The priceless video follows after the break.
Beer cooler built in the shape of Google's Android... just because (video)
The bounds of Android fandom, will we ever know them? The latest exhibition of one man's love for his mobile OS is this here beverage (we know it's only going to house beer, let's be honest) cooler, which has been lovingly recreated in the form and proportions of the Android logo. Standing somewhere over four feet tall, it's really a fantastically well executed DIY project, and its maker has taken the time to document it on video for us as well. You'll probably find the unfinished droid a little disturbing to see, what with its unpolished skin and rough edges, but maybe that's a fitting metaphor for the constantly evolving operating system anyway. All we know is that the end result is at least as sweet as Gingerbread, if not more so. See it all just past the break. [Thanks, Tony]
HTML5 prettifies fan-made Tron trailer... in real time! (video)
What can HTML5 do for you? Quite a lot, as it happens. A chap by the name of Franz Enzenhofer has put together a real-time effects mixer for a fan-made Tron trailer, which combines HTML5 with a dash of JavaScript and a sprinkling of CSS to demonstrate the awesome potency of open web standards. You can recolor, reposition, rotate, stretch, or skew the video, all while it plays. We've got the unaltered trailer, made earlier this year as a sort of homage to the 1982 picture, for you after the break, but you'll want to hit the source link to start post-processing it with the finest browser-based video editor yet.
Fan-made Duke Nukem 3D remake green-lighted by Gearbox
Project lead Frederik "Fresch" Schreiber has received a non-commercial license to proceed with Duke Nukem: Next-Gen, his Unreal Engine 3-powered Duke Nukem 3D remake. Fresch secured the license in just under three weeks after his first announcement -- a credit to rights holder Gearbox's openness to share the franchise with the community -- and has aleady assembled a team of nine other contributors (though he is still "hiring" for a number of positions). Fresch, who abandoned similar "next-gen" remakes of Daikatana (too unpopular) and SIN (shut down by MumboJumbo), has plans to release a public multiplayer demo of Duke Nukem: Next-Gen "sooner than you think." Of course, the full version will be released "when it's done" -- and he notes that "Duke Nukem: Next-Gen" is, wisely, just a codename. Check out the freeware project's first test video after the break.
Massive fan-made Command and Conquer game released
When devoted fans of a video game franchise have a story to tell within the confines of the franchise's universe, they usually turn to written fanfic. The team at CNCLabs had a different idea: Why not turn their story, inspired by a group of soldiers encountered in Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun Firestorm -- then never heard from again -- into a fully realized video game? After three years in development, their lofty goal was met, resulting in the release of Command and Conquer 3: The Forgotten. Our personal favorite aspect of the fan-made expansion? True to the series, it's got live-action cutscenes. Sure, they might lack appearances by old, old, old wrestlers, but we'll be damned if they don't have heart. You can check out a trailer for the fan game after the jump, or download it on The Forgotten's official site.
BioShock Infinite's Columbia city gets Minecrafted
A team of crafters led by one "DrKamina" has pieced together BioShock Infinite's floating city, Columbia, in the suddenly popular indie creation game Minecraft. The 3D model incorporates design elements adapted form screenshots and concept art, video and, of course, sheer imagination. The group's vision of Columbia is housed on DrKamina's "City of Rapture" server, which is also home to adorable recreations of BioShock's underwater utopia and Half-Life 2's City 17 and Black Mesa. Visitors be warned: Kamina and company run a tight server, as evidenced by the prominent graveyard for the banned. RIP Snifflles, Errorz and Deerman -- we hardly knew ye!
Pac-Man, Micro Machines, Air Hockey created in LittleBigPlanet 2 beta
We have no earthly way of knowing who YouTube user TheFinalBurst is, but we're pretty sure the mystery creator's series of videos from the LittleBigPlanet 2 beta could serve as more effective marketing for the game than any ad campaign Sony could put together. Over the past week, TheFinalBurst's managed to create some mind-bogglingly intricate games using LBP 2's tool set -- games like Pac-Man, Micro Machines, an air hockey mini-game and even a first-person shooter, which we're still trying to wrap our heads around. Check out a few of our favorite selections after the jump, or visit TheFinalBurst's YouTube page to check out all of this homebrew designer's brilliant creations. Those beta invites can't arrive soon enough. Update: A few of our commenters have pointed out that TheFinalBurst wasn't the author of all of the levels posted in his YouTube channel. We apologize to the original creators for not giving credit where credit was due.
